Presentation by Richard Wakeford
Head of Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Scottish Executive.

Richard Wakeford started the ‘Towards a successful and sustainable Highlands and Islands seminar series’ with a lecture entitled ‘Sustainable Rural Scotland’.

The theme running through Richard’s presentation is change. How rural Scotland engages with the rest of the world is changing. The way people live and work in rural Scotland is changing. And the speed and depth of change is increasing.

But what does this change mean?

• Richard talked about the need to continually appraise how we engage with Scotland’s traditional rural industries – agriculture, forestry and fishing. The area’s products now compete in a global market – how do we produce what this global market wants and will this actually mean change in Scotland’s rural produce.
• Rural areas tend to have a different demographic structure than urban Scotland. How will public services be delivered to rural residents in the future. Is an answer to target rural house building to ensure it creates a critical mass to sustain local services. And what opportunities could be created in rural Scotland by more affluent, older residents – the silver economy.
• Our transport infrastructure will have a significant impact on the future of rural Scotland. Infrequent ferries for example place a significant barrier on island life. More frequent ferry services can cancel out many of the restrictions of island life.

The streaming audio file here allows you to sample key points from Richard's full presentation.  The questions and answers that followed are available here in Adobe Reader pdf format

Link to Richard's Powerpoint presentation on the Scottish Executive website (link opens a new window).